[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 2 (Friday, January 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 391-392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-79]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 72-26-ISFSI, ASLBP No. 02-801-01-ISFSI]
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
(Diablo Canyon Power Plant Independent Spent Fuel Storage
Installation); Notice of Hearing (Application To Construct and Operate
an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation)
December 27, 2002.
Before Administrative Judges: G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chairman, Dr.
Jerry R. Kline and Dr. Peter S. Lam.
This proceeding concerns the December 21, 2001 application of
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) under 10 CFR part 72 for
permission to construct and operate an independent spent fuel storage
installation (ISFSI) at its Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) site near
San Luis Obispo, California. On April 12, 2002, the NRC staff issued a
notice that the agency is (1) considering this license amendment
application; and (2) affording the opportunity for an adjudicatory
hearing on the PG&E application. That notice was published in the
Federal Register on April 22, 2002. (67 FR 19600 (Apr. 22, 2002).)
Responding to the April 2002 notice of opportunity for a hearing,
various petitioners, including the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
(SLOMFP), which by consent is acting as a lead petitioner, Peg Pinard,
the Avila Valley Advisory Council, and nine other organizations,
including the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club, San Luis Obispo
Cancer Action Now, the Cambria Legal Defense Fund, the Central Coast
Peace and Environmental Council, the Environmental Center of San Luis
Obispo, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the San Luis Obispo Chapter of
Grandmothers for Peace International, Santa Margarita Area Residents
Together, and the Ventura County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation
filed timely requests for hearing and petitions to intervene in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.714 that, as supplemented, seek to interpose
various joint contentions challenging the application. In response to
those hearing requests, on May 29, 2002, the Secretary of the
Commission referred the petitions to the Atomic Safety and Licensing
Board Panel to conduct any subsequent adjudication. On May 31, 2002,
this Licensing Board was appointed to preside over this proceeding. (67
FR 39073 (June 6, 2002).) The Board consists of Dr. Jerry R. Kline, Dr.
Peter S. Lam, and G. Paul Bollwerk, III, who serves as Chairman of the
Board. In addition, San Luis Obispo County, California (SLOC), the Port
San Luis Harbor District (PSLHD), the California Energy Commission, the
Diablo Canyon Independent Safety Committee (DCISC), and the Avila Beach
Community Services District (ABCSD) filed requests to participate in
any hearing as interested governmental entities in accordance with 10
CFR 2.715(c) and, in the case of SLOC and PSLHD, proffered particular
issues they wished to have litigated in the proceeding.
Beginning on September 10, 2002, the Board conducted a two-day
initial prehearing conference, during which it heard oral presentations
regarding the standing of each of the petitioners, the participation of
DCISC as an interested governmental entity, and the admissibility of
the eight contentions and four issues raised by the section 2.714
intervenors and section 2.715(c) interested governmental entities SLOC
and PSLHD. Additionally, in response to an appearance at the initial
prehearing conference by an ABCSD representative regarding the status
of a request for admission as a section 2.715(c) participant that it
previously had submitted to the agency, the Board requested that ABCSD
resubmit such a request directly to the Board, which it subsequently
did, stating that it did not have any new issues it wished to raise on
its own. Thereafter, in a December 2, 2002 issuance the Board ruled on
the various outstanding matters, concluding that (1) although some of
the section 2.714 petitioners lacked standing, the remainder not only
fulfilled that jurisprudential requirement, but also set forth one
admissible contention so as to warrant admission as parties, with
SLOMFP as the lead intervenor; and (2) with the exception of DCISC,
section 2.715(c) interested government entity status should be afforded
to those requesting that designation, but that the SLOC and PSLHD-
proffered issues did not meet the section 2.714 standards governing
contention admissibility. (Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (Diablo Canyon
Power Plant Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation), LBP-02-23, 56
NRC--(Dec. 2, 2002), requests for partial referral and reconsideration
denied, LBP-02-25, 56 NRC--(Dec. 26, 2002).)
In light of the foregoing, please take notice that a hearing will
be conducted in this proceeding. This hearing will be governed by the
formal hearing procedures set forth in 10 CFR part 2, subpart G (10 CFR
2.700 through 2.790), subject to the election that has been made by
applicant Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the NRC staff to utilize
the hybrid hearing procedures in 10 CFR part 2, subpart K (10 CFR
2.1101 through 2.1117).
During the course of the proceeding, the Board may conduct an oral
argument, as provided in 10 CFR. 2.755 and 2.1113, may hold additional
prehearing conferences pursuant to 10 CFR 2.752, and may conduct
evidentiary hearings in accordance with 10 CFR 2.750, 2.751, and
2.1115. The public is invited to attend any oral argument, prehearing
conference, or evidentiary hearing. Notices of those sessions will be
published in the Federal Register and/or made available to the public
at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint
North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and
through the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov.
Additionally, as provided in 10 CFR 2.715(a), any person not a
party to the proceeding may submit a written limited appearance
statement setting forth his or her position on the issues in this
proceeding. These statements do not constitute evidence, but may assist
the Board and/or parties in defining the issues being considered.
Persons wishing to submit a written limited appearance statement should
send by mail to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and
Adjudications Staff or by e-mail to [email protected]. A
[[Page 392]]
copy of the statement also should be served on the Chairman of this
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board by mail to the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board Panel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001 or by e-mail to [email protected]. At a later date, the Board
may entertain oral limited appearance statements at a location or
locations in the vicinity of the Diablo Canyon facility. Notice of any
oral limited appearance sessions will be published in the Federal
Register and/or made available to the public at the NRC PDR and on the
NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov.
Documents relating to this proceeding are available for public
inspection at the Commission's PDR or electronically from the publicly
available records component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). Persons who do not
have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR reference staff
by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to
[email protected].
It is so ordered.
Dated in Rockville, Maryland, on December 27, 2002.
For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board\*\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\*\ Copies of this notice of hearing were sent this date by
Internet e-mail transmission to counsel for (1) applicant PG&E; (2)
petitioners SLOMFP, et al.; (3) SLOC, PSLHD, CEC, ABCSD, and DCISC;
and (4) the staff.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
G. Paul Bollwerk, III,
Administrative Judge.
[FR Doc. 03-79 Filed 1-2-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P